11.4 How far can diseases be predicted and mitigated against? Flashcards
identify a disease outbreak at a global scale
Covid-19
When did WHO identify the Corona Virus?
January 2020, from the city of Wuhan, China
When and why did WHO declare covid-19 a pandemic?
On March 14 as the virus had spread across the globe
What were the 2 main ways to tackle the virus during the 2020 pandemic?
Lockdown and quarantine
Which countries were best prepared and which were not?
Globally the best prepared were those that had previously confronted similar previous coronaviruses such as Taiwan and South Korea. Whilst some advanced countries had both underestimated and underfunded preparation for the global pandemic
What was the initial response by the USA to WHO?
President Trump claimed that it had ‘failed in its basic duty’. The USA later appealed to the WHO for an extra US$1 billion to help fight the virus.
Which group of people were most affected by the virus?
Poor people living in high density locations, but also those who needed to work.
What was the major issue in tackling the virus in some LIDCs and EDCs?
High urban densities, poverty and pressure on healthcare system made it often a greater challenge. For example, social distancing in slums was very difficult due to high densities, and the necessity of leaving home to make a living. 1 in 7 live in such conditions globally, mainly but not exclusively in LIDCs and EDCs
Globally how many have died from Covid-19?
An estimated 6,806,000 as of 2023
Compare Covid-19 to H1N1?
1. Symptom onset
2. Age group most impacted
3. Worldwide deaths
- Symptom onset- sudden after 1 to 4 day & Covid-19 gradual after 2 to 14 days
- Age group most impacted-people younger than 30 & adults over age 30
- Worldwide deaths-about 284,000 in the first 12 months & about 2,000,000 in the first 12
What are the 4 physical barriers you need to know of?
- Relief
- Natural Hazards e.g. earthquakes and tsunamis
- Remoteness/ Inaccessibility
- Excess Water supply
What impact do physical barriers have on mitigation efforts?
Mitigation efforts of NGOs and governments may be hindered or helped due to physical barriers. With contrasting locations having often very different physical characteristics, some are of importance to mitigation, others are not.
Give 2 ways that RELIEF positively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) restricts movement of people and prevents infectious and contagious diffusion
2) This effects climate and so can influence and stop spread of diseases caused by vectors such as mosquitoes e.g. pattern of malaria in Ethiopia
Give 2 ways that RELIEF negatively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) Communication difficulties in higher latitudes due to poor infrastructure, often a issue in LIDCs
2) Difficult to access communities to respond to outbreaks as infrastructure like roads are difficult to build on hard terrain. Medicines and air workers can’t get to site quickly.
Give 2 ways that NATURAL HAZARDS positively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) Due to larger scale of events, response units often respond quicker, particularly NGOs
2) Damage to infrastructure limits movement of people and so can restrict some types of diffusion
Give 2 ways that NATURAL HAZARDS negatively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) Homes/hospitals are destroyed so a large number of people are often displaced into close proximity such as refugee camps which leads to quicker spread of disease
2) Secondary Hazards can delay the arrival of medical aid e.g. In Nepal Gorkha Region, landslides made it unreachable for weeks meaning limited clean water and medical supplies, this allowed for the spread of cholera, usually preventable if vaccines are available
Give 2 ways that INACCESSIBILITY positively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) When Ebola virus first appeared in the 1980s in Congo, the communities were so isolated that the disease remained contained
2) Being further from other towns restricts population moving, this reduces the risk of communicable disease due to lack of contact. Tribes in the Amazon were not in contact with Western diseases until the mid-twentieth century
Give 2 ways that INACCESSIBILITY negatively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) Populations may not have built natural resistance to western diseases such as influenza for example the Nahua tribe in Peru who are considered to have been wiped out in 1980s by oil explorers who brought diseases
2) Many such communities rely on subsistence farming who are more prone to Zoonotic diseases from their animals
Give 2 ways that EXCESS WATER SUPPLY positively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) Bodies of water can act as evacuation routes if air travel isn’t available]
2) In Maryland USA, Chesapeake Bay divides the state in 2 regions during the 1917-38 measles outbreak it acted as a barrier to limit spread
Give 2 ways that EXCESS WATER SUPPLY neagtively impacts mitigation efforts?
1) Large volumes of water can mean it becomes stagnant, leading to water borne diseases
2) Flooding can make areas inaccessible to emergency relief efforts, lead to damaging of buildings and so mass evacuation
The number of people worldwide that have HIV as of 2019..
36 million
On average how many people have HIV in sub-Saharan Africa
1 in 3
What % of people with HIV in the USA don’t know they have it?
14%
What is AIDs?
Umbrella term for the illnesses that occur due to having untreated HIV, where after several years the body’s immune system is no longer able to fight any infections
